Pages

1.01.2009

Running in the New Year

Can you guess what I did this morning?

You are right! I ran the Half in the 10th annual Texas Marathon in Kingwood Texas. I had heard positive things about this New Year's Day event and when a friend mentioned giving it a try, I was all over it.

It is a smaller race, about 400 runners between the full and half, with plenty of friendly support and great organization.

One section of the looped course was filled with everyone's names stapled to the trees. I may never have my name in lights, but it's been stapled to a tree. Isn't that nice?

Our goody bags were filled to the rim with coffee mugs, a hat, nice gloves, a sport bottle and a nice long sleeved shirt. There still might be other goodies in there, I haven't dug to the bottom yet. After the race there were stacks and stacks of hot pizza, sodas and cookies. I never thought I would cross the finish line and immediately go for a slice of za, but apparently if it's available I'm all over it.

Since it was the 10th year for this event, and we are of course in Texas where everything is bigger and better, this is the medal...

I know. It's almost as big as my head. It actually hurts my neck to wear it. Impressive, no? Each year they give out a small stuffed animal with your finish place on it. This year they had bats and I finished 99th.

After an ice bath, followed by a shower and some foam rolling, I felt pretty good. Considering my longest run prior to this was 5 miles and I have shown little (okay, no) restraint around all possible forms of sugar, I was glad my body remembered what to do.

This race was a lot of fun and I'm really glad to have started the new year this way. In a way it has re energized my attitude toward running. I'm ready to get the holidays behind me (and off of my behind) and find my running groove again. And my abs.

Happy New Year to You!

****Just for fun****I'll send a bit of good mail to the first person to correctly guess the first song on my play list for today. It's a bit old school and fitting for the occasion.

My thought for a perfect post-half-marathon run song would be Harder to Breathe, but that probably isn't old-school enough.

How about Journey's Keep on Running?

You and silken have inspired me, and kept me running more regularly in recent months. I'm not up to a half marathon yet, but it sounds like something that could be fun to try, if I can work my way up to it. I was considering a mini-triathlon this summer.

Also, I've awarded the Honest Scrap Award to you, if you have a little time to post 10 little-known facts about yourself.

My thought for a perfect post-half-marathon run song would be Harder to Breathe, but that probably isn't old-school enough.

How about Journey's Keep on Running?

You and silken have inspired me, and kept me running more regularly in recent months. I'm not up to a half marathon yet, but it sounds like something that could be fun to try, if I can work my way up to it. I was considering a mini-triathlon this summer.

Also, I've awarded the Honest Scrap Award to you, if you have a little time to post 10 little-known facts about yourself.